University of Portsmouth lecturer receives MBE

HUNDREDS of runners were turned into sprinting spirits as part of Portsmouth’s annual ghost run.

Friday was the fourth year that the five-mile race has been run, starting at Alexandra Park and going up to Foxes Forest in Hilsea.

Greeting runners on the route were a team of ‘scarers’ who jumped out on unsuspecting runners, squirting them with water pistols.

The scarers included professional actors from Manic Street Productions.

‘It’s our biggest Ghost Race yet,’ said race director Robert Piggott. ‘We sold out in advance but it was so popular the requests kept on coming from our regular runners so we decided to add extra entries last week.’